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Family Care Foundation Newsletter:

Volume 5 -- No. 2 -- May 2001

India Earthquake Relief

This special photo issue highlights FCF’s relief effort in Gujarat, India, following the massive earthquake which struck there earlier this year.

Photo pages.

On January 26th, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake left at least 20,000 people dead, 167,000 injured and millions homeless in the industrialized Indian state of Gujarat.

After briefly grabbing the headlines, sadly the focus of world attention is now largely off this tragedy and the massive need in India. In addition to the human suffering, the infrastructure in Gujarat remains severely damaged with large-scale destruction of buildings, mine cave-ins, train tracks destroyed and power failures cutting off water supply. Thus the emergency relief phase has given way to the longer term recovery and rehabilitation phase.

“Two months after this devastating earthquake, some pockets in the worst-hit areas have yet to receive organised relief,” the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) said in a recently issued dispatch. “Parts of the worst-affected counties of Bhuj district are still awaiting shelter material,” the IFRC added in their statement, warning of continued public health risks in areas where health and education infrastructure had yet to be repaired. The Red Cross team described relief distribution by national and international aid organisations as “uneven” due to the enormous logistical challenges.

Family Care Foundation continues to contribute to the relief effort. New Delhi-based FCF Project Manager, Hema Mooney, hails from the region where the earthquake struck, which amplified her concerns for the people suffering from the tragedy. As soon as the quake hit, their New Delhi relief team mobilized and collected two large truckloads of food, blankets, tents, medicines, and water, while also assembling a team of nurses, doctors, counselors, and volunteers, and headed off to the villages of Bhuj and Bachau which were hardest hit. During the first ten days, they were able to stretch their first loads of supplies to help residents of six villages. They distributed food, water, blankets, and medicines to the survivors, tended to the injured, put up hundreds of tents as temporary shelter for those who had lost their homes, and listened to and comforted those who had lost loved ones.

Meanwhile, our Pune-based FCF Project Manager, Arthur Lindfield, was working in another area of Bhuj. Art and team members traveled to the earthquake zone with a team of doctors, nurses, and attendants who manned a four-car train hospital known as the Lifeline Express. This is a specially-outfitted train that is normally parked in Bombay and used for polio camps, eye camps, and cleft lip operations in different villages around India. Their initial assignment was to locate a site to park this unit, a task all the more difficult where most of the infrastructure ceased to exist. They parked the Lifeline Express on the edge of an industrial shunting yard and ran in 35KW of power and sanitation facilities, and set up a 22-bed recovery ward in a Border Security Force tent. Soon an air-conditioned operating theater with auxiliary units was functioning and home to hundreds of patients being treated, the most common injuries being crushed pelvises and broken legs and arms.

Your financial donations toward our relief efforts can make a profound difference. Please consider designating a gift towards India Quake Relief. Thank you!


This gateway to the ancient city of Bhuj, which is hundreds of years old, is one of the few remaining parts of the city wall left standing after the devastating earthquake.


Typical scene of demolished buildings where multiple floor slabs ended up directly on top of each other, all contents trapped between them, including people.

Photo Pages.